A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu

Coming Soon:

The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."

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Archive of Wolff Materials

Thursday, December 13, 2012

CULINARY ADVENTURES

Ever since Susie and I took the plunge and bought our Paris apartment eight years ago, I have been the cook. Over the years, I have developed a small repertory of dishes of which I am inordinately proud, as only a mediocre amateur chef can be -- grilled quail, hazelnut encrusted rabbit, five spices duck legs, coquilles St. Jacques, dorade royale [a lovely white fish], tuna, swordfish, paupiettes provencale [a cheat, these, inasmuch as they are delicious little concoctions of turkey, bacon, and farci already prepared by the local butcher]. Today, urged on by Susie, who in the day was truly a great cordon bleu cook, I bought skate at the market [or "raie,"as it is called in France.] Skate is a really scary looking thing, lying there at the fishmonger's stall as though it was ready to fly into your boat and bite you. I found a fairly simple recipe online, and tomorrow night I shall try it. Who knows, if this works, I might even try my hand at escargots!

Happy boning. When I lived in Paris (on rue Paul Bert, in the fabulous 11th) there was in the nearby covered market (on of the few left--Marché d'Aligre)a woman who specialized in offal. Her paupiettes with sweetbreads were wonderful. That market also produced a genuine Proustian moment; the chicken purveyor had asked if I wanted my chicken "preparé" (=gutted, headed, and footed (defeeted?)), "oui", I said, as I glanced over at the cheese stand. Moments later I was transported back to the Bronx circa 1955. The chicken monger was singeing the pin feathers over a bunsen burner, producing the well-remembered odor as my mother was similarly employed over the open gas burner of our stove; she having picked out a live chicken at Bathgate market and which, after the ministrations of the lowly flicker at the market, still needed some work.

About Me

As I observed in one of my books, in politics I am an anarchist, in religion I am an atheist, and in economics I am a Marxist. I am also, rather more importantly, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a violist.